Colours of Courage
By WATSON LOIS
LITTLE SAMANTHA Turnwald has paid a high price for each of the brightly coloured beads dangling around her neck.
Far from just colourful baubles, the beads represent milestones in the youngster’s brave battle against cancer. One for hair loss, one for a blood transfusion, one for an x-ray, one for chemotherapy…
Sam, from the Waikato town of Ohaupo, was diagnosed at 15 months with hepatoblastoma, a liver tumour, after her parents, Jo and Mark, noticed the right side of her tummy getting harder.
She is also the face behind this month’s Child Cancer Foundation appeal.
Sam received seven rounds of chemotherapy at Auckland’s Starship Hospital before undergoing surgery to remove part of her liver and her gallbladder. She responded well to the surgery and started another three rounds of chemotherapy.
She is now in remission and tomorrow will celebrate her fourth birthday with twin sister Lucy.
“When I’ve had one more sleep and then another it’s my birthday,” she proudly told the Sunday Star-Times yesterday as she collected her new bike from the shop.
While Sam acts like any other four- year-old, challenges still lie ahead for her and her family. She must be monitored closely for cancer until she turns five, and then will be included in the Late Effects programme.
Her liver will never function at full capacity so she must be conscious of her diet. As her gallbladder was removed in surgery, she won’t be able to eat sugars and she has high-tone hearing loss. It is also uncertain whether the chemotherapy drugs will affect her fertility.
Jo Turnwald said she and her husband decided to offer Sam as the face of the annual Child Cancer Foundation Appeal, which begins on March 19, to give other parents hope.
“We wanted to give something back to the Child Cancer Foundation and to show that kids can recover and bounce back, but they need support.”
Appeal week fundraising will help introduce the official Beads of Courage programme to paediatric oncology treatment centres nationwide and into vital research into Late Effects – the after- effects that children treated for cancer experience over time.
* New Zealanders can donate $4 or more and receive a Support Bead to assist with the funding of the Beads of Courage programme. Beads are available from street collectors or at the Mad Butcher, JK Kids Gear, Hyundai, Retravision or Professional Real Estate outlets. Donations can also be made via the foundation’s website: www. childcancer.org.nz.
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(c) 2007 Sunday Star – Times; Wellington, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.